This is so inspiring. I'm also 24, 5'2" (short asian stature). I'm struggling with gaining a lot of weight recently and am at my heaviest, ever, right now (180 lbs). May I ask what your before weight was and what gave you the conviction to really commit to losing weight?

Hi dearie! When I was in HS I was 184 lbs, then after going off to college my weight shot up to 230 lbs :(

One day I saw this lady I knew but I didn't recognize her right away, she used to be obese and now she's half the size she was. I was so surprised and inspired to give the diet plan she was doing a try and it was all from there. When I started seeing that it was possible, and I could do it, I stuck with it. Every single lb I lost was a small victory for me and that was enough motivation for me to keep to it, and before I knew it I made it!!

The thing about me, I struggled with my weight my entire life, ever since age 7. My parents tried everything in the book, threw away thousands of dollars trying to help me lose weight, nothing worked. The reason why it didn't?

Because I never stuck to it. I looked at losing weight as if it were a chore. I gave up easily, I felt sorry for myself, I kept making up excusing saying that I was just meant to be this way. I know better now, that it's complete bullshit. This is what I told myself... "Stop the excuses, stop feeling sorry for yourself, take it by the horns and own it. The only one stopping your success is yourself, YOU CAN do it! Yes you will get discouraged, yes there will be days where you "feel fat" and gain a little, but don't let those little down days break you. Everyday is another chance."

:( Sorry if that wasn't the answer you were looking for, but that was my experience with it.

Edit: TL;DR - Every pound I lost made me squeal with joy that in itself was rewarding enough. I was losing 2-3 lbs a week and every week I was hitting my mark 100%. That was the #1 motivating factor for me.

Good for you! I think part of it has to be deciding to lose the weight for yourself and not your parents. I hope your parents were kinder and more supportive than my friend's (we're Taiwanese). She wasn't uber thin like the rest of the girls at our church, and they were forever on her case about her weight, even in front of her friends. Her dad once yelled at me for taking some mini quiche at a party, because he thought I was going to sneak them over to her. To this day, I still feel terrible for her.

This is exactly what has caused me unnecessary anxiety about my weight ever since I was a child, and confusion about whether I am losing weight for myself or because my parents have brainwashed me to do so. My parents and grandparents and relatives customarily comment on my weight (whether it looks like I gained/lost/should lose some) first thing upon seeing me after a period of time. I've learned to just own what I think of myself and not be phased by them, but it's taken a lot of time (moving away for college and work) and tears to get to this point.

sorry to butt in, but are you Korean? bc I experience this a lot with my family, and the constantly commenting on my weight always disturbed me so much. even if they thought I looked good, some kind of comment always had to be made, especially by my mom. I felt like that kind of messed me up in the head a bit even though I was never that over or under weight. anyway, I recently discovered that this is actually a cultural thing (I'm Korean, but born in the US), not just something my family did to torture me and make me feel terrible about myself. somehow finding that out made me feel better about it. I saw some videos on youtube about Americans who had gone to Korea and were shocked at how much everyone would comment on their weight if they hadn't seen them in a while. anyway, I just wanted to throw that out there in case you were in the same boat as me.

I'm actually Taiwanese-American, and as the comment prior to mine mentioned, Taiwanese culture cam be extremely critical of looks as well. It's similar to Korean culture, but probably not as bad (plastic surgery is not yet as commonplace in Taiwan as it is in Korea).

It's tough reconciling why your parents are so judgmental about how you look when you grow up in a society ('Murca!) that is trying to embrace people of all colors/shapes/sizes, so good on you for realizing your parents come from a mindset created by a different culture! Stay strong and confident in yourself and these things will seem trivial/laughable after a while. :)

Ugh. I know how that is 100%... If anyone were to tell me that right now I'd probably go off on them. But as a kid you really don't have that kind of self defense :( I'm way more sassier and stronger than I was before even when I was obese if anyone said shit like that to me I'd talk back. I think what made it 10 times worse was when my mother would sit there and AGREE.

I'm guessing you're also from an Asian background? My relatives always took it upon themselves to notice not only my weight, but skin tone (I like to spend time outside, so sue me), and acne. As though I weren't aware of those attributes. My sister and I have vowed to never treat our kids this way, though my newborn niece is so damn cute, I can't fathom ever saying anything critical of her. :)

Anyway, congrats to you for breaking out of this awful cycle! I work in college counseling, and I've often thought about creating a support group for students in the same predicament, but I'm too anxious that no one would attend.

That is awesome! Even if it were just 1 person I think that would really be a life changer. If I had someone there for me telling me everything was going to be ok, I think my childhood/youth would have been a little brighter lol.

:( I feel you so hard. It took me a good while to drill into my brain that I AM BEAUTIFUL and WONDERFUL no matter what size. But goddamn getting there was a wreck. I'd have random ajumma (korean old lady) strangers tell me I was fat... one day I was at church (lol korean christians. mom would force me to go to church even though I didn't believe in god.) and eating a hot dog, I'm a fast eater and that's not even the reason why I got fat, some old lady told me that I was never going to lose fat if I kept eating that way. MIND you I had ONE hot dog. I was only a middle school student at the time with an already fragile mind/low self esteem, yeah. I ended up crying so hard I ran out and sat in the parking lot.

Ugh. Fuck people. Especially superficial judgmental Asian people.

edit: Also forgot to mention, my dad when I was in high school (he never said this to my face but my mom told me) said that he was worried that I would never get a job and never get a boyfriend because I was fat. LOL. I ended up having 2 boyfriends and landed a full-time job while being obese. -_-.